Klein, Middendorf Take Home Big East AccoladesNina Klein was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Week after allowing just one goal in 170 minutes of action

Nina Klein was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week on Monday morning.

Oct. 13, 2014

NEW YORK - After helping lead the Huskies to a pair of weekend victories, University of Connecticut redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Nina Klein (Topton, Pa.) was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week, as announced by the league on Monday. In addition, sophomore Anna Middendorf (Bremen, Germany) earned a spot on the weekly honor roll.

Klein posted her fifth shutout of the season in No. 6 UConn’s dominant 4-0 victory over No. 19 Old Dominion on Friday night. The Husky keeper stopped a pair of Lady Monarch shots and helped defend against four ODU penalty corners. She followed the performance on Sunday, limiting Boston University to just one goal in 100 minutes of play and then stopped all four BU attempts in the ensuing shoot-out.

Klein’s 0.94 goals against average ranks first in Big East and is also sixth nationally. She also boasts a stellar .743 save percentage in 818 minutes of action this season.

"Nina had a terrific weekend, earning the shutout against a very talented ODU team and then having a spectacular performance in the shootout with Boston University," said Husky head coach Nancy Stevens "Our defense continues to give up a minuscule amount of corners, which has been a key factor in both significant wins this past weekend."

Middendorf earns her spot on the honor roll after tallying a five-point game against ODU last Friday. The sophomore connected on a pair of goals, capitalizing on two Husky penalty corner attempts and also assisted on freshman Casey Umstead’s score late in the second half.

The German native is one of four UConn players to have scored at least five goals and also leads the team with three game-winning scores.